An Accessible Low-cost Plant Treatment for Cutaneous Ulcers

The cutaneous ulcer is a painful and debilitating bacterial infection that is common in rural areas of Papua New Guinea (PNG). Systematic treatment with topical antiseptics such as chlorhexidine cream in theory represents a viable treatment option, but in reality, effective treatment of cutaneous ulcers in Papua New Guinea is greatly hindered by the remote and highly inaccessible areas that affected communities often live in. In a search for more accessible treatment options, plant medicines used by different communities in Papua New Guinea have been tested to identified the sap of the tree, Ficus septica, as a promising antibacterial agent in vitro. The sap displays comparable activity to chlorhexidine in disc diffusion assays with gram-positive bacterial wound pathogens. It also appears to dampen the pro-inflammatory responses of neutrophils by down regulating interleukin-6 expression. The sap forms a flexible plastic-like wound covering which may help deter flies from feeding on the wounds, and unlike chlorhexidine cream, the Ficus tree is easy to find where affected communities live. For this reason, this study aims to perform an open label clinical trial using an interventional approach, to compare the effect of this antiseptic plant sap and of a standard topical antiseptic, on the rate of wound development prevention and bacterial growth. If shown to be effective, this readily available plant medicine can provide a zero-cost treatment option in remote areas of PNG.